


mastermind

by atlantisairlock



Category: Now You See Me (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, F/F, Fluff, Happy Ending, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-27
Updated: 2013-10-27
Packaged: 2017-12-30 14:42:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1019902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlantisairlock/pseuds/atlantisairlock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where the Four Horsemen are Jack, Danny, Merritt and Dylan, Henley's the Interpol officer going after them, and Alma is the mastermind behind it all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	mastermind

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [she says it's only a game](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/29767) by sablize. 



The little girl with brunette waves and deep blue eyes is smarter than everyone thinks. She knows what her parents are hiding when Lionel Shrike loses his job, and when her father sinks down into the water, never comes up again, and her mother dies of a broken heart, she dyes her hair platinum blonde, puts in green contacts, calls herself Alma Dray and waits.

 

 

They're a good team. She likes Danny's pride, Merritt's wit, Dylan's daring, Jack's cunning. She likes that everything is falling into place. Except Henley Reeves.

Henley Reeves is kind of an idiot, she thinks at first. Typical Interpol. 

Then they talk, and Alma decides she _might_ have been wrong.

Henley's incapable at shuffling cards, she learns on the plane ride. They talk about the Pont des Arts and Alma sees there's a romantic at heart. She tries to get Alma home from the bar after the incident at the Savoy.

They nearly kiss, once, that night. 

They  _do_ kiss, in the chaos at Five Pointz.

She falls hard. She doesn't expect to - but she falls in love with Henley Reeves' little smile and her love of leather gloves and her dark eyes and her laugh. 

And then after Henley turns away to leave when the Four Horsemen disappear - her job is done - Alma's years of planning finally comes to fruition, and the result is glorious. She smirks as she turns away from Thaddeus Bradley's cell, leaving him yelling for answers behind her. Revenge is a dish best served cold... and it tastes sweet on her tongue.

It's a happy moment, too, when she sees the expressions on the faces of her Four Horsemen at the Central Park carousel. Merritt's dumbstruck even though he tries to use his snark to cover it. Danny's amazed, tries to apologise for the shit that went down in the interrogation room that day. Jack's grinning like he's just won the lottery, doesn't even bother to apologise about what happened in their apartment, and Dylan just blinks, speechless, and she can see him trying to burn the memory of everything before him into his mind. 

"Now you see me," she smiles when they fall silent. "You're in."

"God bless," the words fall from Merritt's lips automatically and they laugh.  

"Come."

They follow her in and listen to her speak. "The four of you have done some pretty damn amazing things. But the real magic is taking four strong solo acts and putting them together and that's exactly what you did. So welcome."

"You mean..." Danny asks uncertainly.

Alma stands in front of the gate to the carousel, and feels the familiar rush of power. " _Welcome to the Eye._ "

She grabs onto a gilded pole and leaps onto the ride, and sees them follow suit, all beginning to laugh and smile with a genuine happiness in their eyes. They've come so far. They've helped her execute her revenge and she's so proud. She really is.

Her aim has always been revenge, but doing good along with it? That's a bonus.

 

 

There's just one more thing to deal with, as she gives them their night and melts away into the darkness. Paris. She slips the age-old newspaper article into the  _Liberation_ and waits for Henley Reeves on the Pont des Arts, where she knows the redhead is going to be. Watches her from the corner of her eye as she sits on a bench, opens her paper and her eyes scan the article.

"It was all planned, you know." Alma watches as Henley turns her head and looks at her with surprise - and yet  _not_ \- in her eyes. "Credit Republicain... Tressler Insurance..." She pauses. "Bonjour, Henley." 

"The safe," Henley murmurs. "They made the safe."

"Cheap steel, cut corners. It got to the bottom of the river, the safe worked, Lionel Shrike was trapped. He drowned. And that was it." Alma points to a smaller column next to the Lionel Shrike article. "He had a daughter, you know."

Henley nods. "That daughter was you."

"I didn't want him to go down that day. I had the feeling... that something would go wrong. The last sleight of hand trick he ever performed for me was to make a watch appear from behind my ear." She sees Henley glance down at her wrist, where a weatherbeaten watch lies. "Told me to count the seconds till he returned. And I never stopped. I started planning from that day. Created a persona, did my research, planned everything, worked out every detail. And the one thing I couldn't imagine happening..." Alma pauses, sighs. "Was you."

Henley cocks her head to the side, waiting for the inevitable continuation.

"I know the logical conclusion is for you to take me in, close the case." 

The redhead nods in affirmation. "Right. But you know how I feel about conclusions and logic. And you know I think some things are better left unexplained." 

Alma's lips twitch in a smile, and she reaches up to push a lock of hair behind Henley's ear. When she withdraws there's a lock and key in her hand. 

"One more secret to lock away?"

The lock and key lie in Henley's hand, and she laughs, smacking Alma's shoulder lightly.

The lock is affixed onto a chainlink on the fence. Henley presses the key into Alma's palm, and the FBI officer slides her hand into Henley's. 

The metal key sinks under the waves the way Lionel Shrike did years ago. But this time Alma's smiling, happy, and she feels warm inside even though the wind's whistling and tangling through their hair. 

Henley slides one tentative arm around Alma's waist as they breathe the air into their lungs, rests her head on Alma's shoulder. "Was it worth it?"

Alma chuckles softly. "It was, especially when I found you."

"Does FBI suspect anything?"

"How would they? I'm the smartest one in the room." 

Henley snickers. "What's going to happen now?"

Alma spins her to look straight into her eyes. "I'll kiss you and we'll live happily ever after."

Henley's lips meets hers and Alma arches into the kiss, presses herself into Henley's slender frame, fingers twining themselves into red hair. 

"Make good on that." Henley murmurs against Alma's smile. 

"I will." 


End file.
